Electrical call system for hotels



(No Model.) L

J. 0. MQLAUGHLIN. ELBGTRIGAL GALL SYSTEM FOR- HOTELS.

No. 335,604. Patented Feb. 9; 1886,

Fig.1.

INVENTOR BATT E R Y ATTEST W JAMES C. MOLAUG l-ILIN,

Parent OF CINCINNATI, onto.

ELECTRICAL CALL SYSTEM FOR HOTELS.

EIFFECIFICAI'IOII forming part of Letters Patent No. 335,604, dated February 9, 1886.

Application filed November 28, 188:2.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES C. MCLAUGHLIN, of the city of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Call Systems for Hotels and Mechanism for Operating the same, of which the following is a specification.

Transient or traveling customers of a hotel require to be called at all hours of the night and day in order to meet outgoing or inconr ing trains, and the custom heretofore has been to send a bell-boy to the individuals room, who is awakened by the boy knocking on the door, and the individual when awakened answers the boy, who then reports at the office that the occupant of the room has been called. Several disadvantages are consequent upon this system. The clerk, not having a convenient reminder, often forgets the request of various parties to be called at certain times, and the individual is thus caused to miss his train and the reputation of the hotel is thereby damaged. Also, the occupant of the room, although he may answer the bell-boy, sometimes is not fully awake, and falls asleep again after the bell boy leaves, and the individual thus misses his train or fails to meet an engagement, and the hotel is blamed for this, as the individual will often declare he was not called. These disadvantages will be fully appreciated by persons familiar with the management of a hotel.

The object of my invention is to overcome these disadvantages, and to enable the hotelclerk, first,.t0 be constantly reminded of the persons to be awakened, and the time for awakening them; second, to have at hand in the l1otel-office means for awakening said persons without resorting to a bell-boy; third to compel the person so awakened to register in the hotel-office the fact that he has been awakened.

In the drawings, Figure l is a diagram illustrating one way of applying my invention, and Fig. 2 is a plan view of a call bell and button that may be used in connection with my invention. 7 A is the annunciator, which is located in the office of the hotel or like building, and is preferably provided with a suitable gong to attract the attention of the clerk when an an (No model.)

swer is made to one of his calls. In this annunciator are a number of drops, a, corre sponding to the number of rooms, each of which drops is numbered to conform to the number of the room to which itis electrically connected by a wire, as a, and callbutton a", a wire, a", leading from the call button a to the battery Z, and another wire, a, leading from the battery back to the drop a, so that when the occupant of a room presses on the call button a the electric circuit is closed, which causes the gong of the annu'nciator to be sounded, and also turns the drop. Each of thesedrops is constructed and arranged to turn over, as shown by the drops Nos. 4, 5, and (i, when the occupant of the room to which it is connected presses on the call-button. The number may be placed on each but ton, or, if desired, may be placed on the face of the annunciator, or in such a position that it will be seen when the drop turns over or otherwise falls. In the office is also present a series of pigeon-holes, B, corresponding in numher to the number of drops, and each of these pigeonholes is numbered to correspond with the drops, and at the top of each pigeon-hole is a hook, I), from which a card or check may be suspended so that it will hangin front of the pigeon-hole, and above or below each pigeonhole, preferably below, as shown, is a blank space, D, in which a card, cl, bearing the name of the occupant of the room of a correspond- I ing number, may be placed, and in connection with each of these spaces 1), preferably at the right hand thereof, as shown, is an electric call-button, 0, connected by a wire, d, to the call-bell E in the room corresponding in numher to the pigeon-hole and drop, a wire, (1 leading from said call-bell to the battery, and another wire, at, leading back from the bat tery to the call-button C, so that the clerk by pressing the button closes the circuit, and thereby rings the bell E in the desired room.

It will be obvious that the precise location of the space D and button 0 with reference to the pigeon-hole to which they belong may be somewhat Varied without essentially changing this feature of my invention.

In each of the pigeon-holes may be placed the key, mail, or other matter belonging to the room of a corresponding number.

too

\Vhen a guest arrives at the hotel, the clerk writes his name on a card, d, and slipsitinto the name-space D of the pigeon-hole belonging to the room to which the guest is assigned. Thus in the present instance the annunciator shows that J. right is a guest of the hotel, and has been assigned to room No. 4, and also that F. Long and A. Love are guests and have been assigned rooms Nos. 5 and 6; J. Wright wished to be called at three oclock, and the clerk suspended from the hook I), belonging to No. 4 pigeon-hole, a card or check, 6, having printed or written thereon Call at 3. When three oclock arrived, the clerk pressed on the button 0, belonging to No. 4, which caused the call-bell E in J. WVrights room to ring, in response to which Mr. Wright pressed on the button a in his room, and this caused drop N o. 4 to turn over. The clerk now knows that he has performed his duty, and that Mr. Wright has himself registered this fact by turning the drop a, as no person but himselt'could do this. If, now, Mr. Wright fall asleep again, and finally comes to the office and says he was not called, the clerk has only to refer him to the annunciator to convince him of his mistake, and the clerk thus that it may be removed from this hook when it is desired to move the bed.

The call-bell E may, if desired, be permanently secured to the wall of the room near the bed; but I prefer to attach the call-bell and the button a to a single plate, F, as shown in detail in Fig. 2,which plate maybe suspended from some portion of the bed or other convenient part of the room. While the button a may also be secured to the wall, I prefer to have it suspended in a manner substantially as shown, whereby the party to be called while yet in bed can have ready access to it.

The various features of my invention are preferably employed together; but one or more may be otherwise employed so far as they are applicable, and yet come Within the general scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. The combination, with a bell and pushbutton in each room, of an office-box having an annunciator and key compartment for each room, each compartment having an adjustable name and time index, and a call-button and electric circuits between the rooms and officebox, substantially as described.

2. The office-box consisting of aframe containing a series of key-compartments, each compartment having an adjustable name and time index and an individual push-button and a series of annunciators corresponding to the compartments, combined with a series of electric circuits, includinga bell and push-button, one for each room. substantially as described.

JAMES C. MOLAUGHLIN.

Attest:

A. S. LUDLOW, W. P. ,GULIoK. 

